Cricket at the highest level has never been simply a demonstration of sporting excellence; it has always been about winning and losing.

Cricket was not merely a game - a great and noble game. It was the embodiment of everything that was best in the British, it was something above politics, a bridge that crossed the divides separating the races.

Once in a blue moon a captain imposes his influence not just upon his opponents, but on a generation of cricketers, by the sheer force of his personality.